Painter. Raconteur. Fly fisher. Environmentalist. Born Sept. 1, 1940, in London, during an air raid; died June 20, 2023, of cancer in Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island; aged 82
IF you are fortunate enough to have tickets to this weekend’s Bowes Museum Christmas Fair, keep an eye open for the two grand and rather fearsome Gothic beasts which, high on the terrace, guard the entrance to the museum. Historic England has them Grade I listed, which means they are of exceptional interest, and museum researcher Dorothy Blundell has recently been on the trail of their tale. She has found that they began their life on the Manchester Assize Courts, which is regarded as one of Britain’s greatest lost buildings. When it was completed in 1864, it was Manchester’s tallest building.